As a Healthwatch we are keen to ensure that everyone in our county is able to contribute their views and experiences to help improve health and care services.

Healthwatch Nottinghamshire, along with partners in the Bassetlaw and South Yorkshire area, are currently undertaking a piece of work on behalf of local leaders in health and care services to get your views on the Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) for South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw.

What’s a Sustainability and Transformation Plan ?

Sustainability and Transformation Plans or STPs, aim to bring health and care services closer together over the next five years and will look closely at how services can provide better care and better value.

The South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Plan is made up of five local area plans – referred to as ‘place’ plans.

The place plan for Bassetlaw has been drawn up by local doctors, the hospital Chief Executive, the Chief Officer of Bassetlaw Clinical Commissioning Group (the people that plan and pay for care), council officers and patient and voluntary sector groups. All based on their knowledge and expertise of working in the NHS and in social care.

Everyone involved in the local STP thinks that the time is right to work together to develop new ways of providing care in our local area and also across the region.

Why do we need these plans?

Local leaders in health and care believe that the plan is important because:

We can make better use of services

Care can sometimes be difficult when moving from one service to another because our hospitals, care homes, general practices and community services don’t always work as closely as they should.

Some people are admitted to hospital beds who could be cared for in the community, if the right support was in place.

There are new ways of treating people

New drugs are becoming available all the time and they are changing people’s lives, helping them to stay well and live longer.

At the same time, new technology means we can monitor, see and treat people without them having to leave their homes.

There are things that can now be done at home, or at your local GP surgery that not so long ago, meant a trip to hospital.

We’re living longer

People are living longer than ever before, which means we are treating more people into their later years.

There won’t be enough money

Our hospitals and other organisations are struggling to meet the huge rise in demand on services.

By looking at what can be done better, with the help of local people, the money can be spent on different ways of delivering health and care services that would benefit people more.

We can prevent some illnesses

We have a better chance of living longer if we look after our health. This is about all the obvious things – like not smoking, not drinking too much alcohol, eating healthily and exercising often.

If we all do these, we’ll increase our chances of a longer, healthier life. Many illnesses are the result of not doing them.

To give you the best possible local health and care

There are growing waiting times for many services and access to care needs to be better.

People want their health, care, support and treatment in a place and at a time that is right for them. For many, this means care at home or in a local healthcare centre and not in a hospital.

What the Plan says

The STPs ambition is:For everyone in South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw to have a great start in life, supporting them to stay healthy and live longer.

Broadly what this means is that work will be done to:

Help people to live well and stay well for longer

Join up health and care services, so they respond better to people’s needs

Spend more money on care in communities, focusing on local healthcare centres

Treat and care for people’s mental and physical health

Make hospital care the same for everyone, everywhere

Make urgent and emergency care simpler for people who need them

Develop a workforce in the right place and with the right skills

Use technology to support people to be well at home, manage their own care and for staff to be connected better

Okay, so what now?

Local health and care leaders want to know what you think about the ideas in the Plan, what you like and don’t like, and how the thinking so far might be improved. They are keen to make sure they hear from all people in the region.

Along with partners in Bassetlaw and the wider STP footprint area we are seeking views from communities who may not usually contribute their views, to know what they think about the ideas in the Plan, what they like and don’t like, and how the thinking so far might be improved. This could be via a self-completed survey (we can provide these with prepaid return envelopes) or via face to face/telephone discussions with our staff.

Healthwatch are particularly interested in hearing from those who are carers, disabled, part of a faith group or are rurally isolated.
Our partners, Bassetlaw CVS are collecting the voices from those who are part or the LGBT+ community, young people (16-25), older people (65+) or are part of the Eastern European community.